Updated 2026-10-04
With the 30% federal credit gone, state policy is the whole game. Two states with identical sunshine can be six years apart on payback because one credits exported power at the full retail rate and the other at a quarter of it. Of the 50 states published here, 13 offer a rebate, a tax credit or an SREC market.
Two properties with identical equipment and identical irradiance, one either side of a state line, can differ by six years on payback. The cause lies in the columns below rather than in the weather, and since the expiry of the federal credit these terms account for most of what remains.
The netting period is the column least often reported and among the most consequential. Before a utility compensates exported power it nets exports against imports. Conducted over a whole monthly bill, power exported at midday offsets power drawn at 7pm at the full retail rate, and only the month-end surplus is discounted; conducted over fifteen-minute intervals, almost nothing offsets. A state crediting 75% of retail under monthly netting therefore outperforms one crediting 100% under fifteen-minute netting, which is why states with identical export rates sit years apart in the payback column.
Net metering is the compensation a utility provides for exported power. Full retail means an exported kilowatt-hour is worth as much as a purchased one, so the grid functions as storage. Partial and little or none mean exports are discounted, in which case a smaller system consumed on site outperforms a larger one. California is its own case: NEM 3.0 pays roughly 5¢ against a retail rate six times higher, which is why batteries have become near-standard there.
Credit expiry is the quiet one. Wisconsin's largest utility moved from an annual to a monthly true-up, so spring and autumn surplus no longer banks against winter usage — it expires. In a state with real seasons that costs an owner more than the export rate does.
SRECs are certificates earned for the clean power a system produces, traded separately from the electricity itself. Only a handful of states have a working market.
| State | Export credit | Retail rate | Worth | State support | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | 32% of retail | 48.0¢ | 15.4¢ | $6,488 state support | 4.5 |
| New York | 100% of retail | 29.9¢ | 29.9¢ | $6,150 state support | 5.9 |
| Illinois | 44% of retail | 19.2¢ | 8.5¢ | $10,940 state support | 6.5 |
| Massachusetts | 100% of retail | 30.5¢ | 30.5¢ | $1,000 state support, SREC $30/MWh | 6.8 |
| Maine | 100% of retail | 32.4¢ | 32.4¢ | — | 7.0 |
| New Jersey | 100% of retail | 25.2¢ | 25.2¢ | SREC $77/MWh | 7.0 |
| Maryland | 100% of retail | 21.4¢ | 21.4¢ | SREC $56/MWh | 7.7 |
| Delaware | 100% of retail | 18.5¢ | 18.5¢ | $4,200 state support | 8.0 |
| Rhode Island | 80% of retail | 28.3¢ | 22.6¢ | — | 8.0 |
| New Hampshire | 69% of retail | 26.6¢ | 18.4¢ | — | 8.9 |
| New Mexico | 100% of retail | 16.1¢ | 16.1¢ | $1,728 state support | 8.9 |
| Pennsylvania | 56% of retail | 21.7¢ | 12.2¢ | SREC $28/MWh | 8.9 |
| Connecticut | 100% of retail | 24.2¢ | 24.2¢ | — | 9.3 |
| California | 12% of retail | 33.6¢ | 4.0¢ | — | 9.4 |
| Vermont | 100% of retail | 23.8¢ | 23.8¢ | — | 9.8 |
| Colorado | 100% of retail | 17.0¢ | 17.0¢ | — | 9.9 |
| Arizona | 41% of retail | 15.4¢ | 6.3¢ | $1,000 state support | 10.7 |
| Florida | 25% of retail | 15.0¢ | 3.8¢ | — | 10.8 |
| Minnesota | 100% of retail | 17.4¢ | 17.4¢ | SREC $30/MWh | 12.1 |
| Virginia | 37% of retail | 17.5¢ | 6.5¢ | — | 12.4 |
| Wisconsin | 18% of retail | 19.1¢ | 3.4¢ | $2,400 state support | 12.6 |
| Alaska | 25% of retail | 28.8¢ | 7.2¢ | — | 12.7 |
| Ohio | 56% of retail | 19.4¢ | 10.9¢ | SREC $3/MWh | 12.7 |
| South Carolina | 16% of retail | 15.5¢ | 2.5¢ | $3,500 state support | 12.7 |
| Iowa | 100% of retail | 16.0¢ | 16.0¢ | — | 13.6 |
| Nevada | 75% of retail | 12.8¢ | 9.6¢ | — | 13.8 |
| Michigan | 35% of retail | 23.1¢ | 8.1¢ | — | 14.0 |
| Missouri | 26% of retail | 16.1¢ | 4.2¢ | — | 14.0 |
| Kansas | 16% of retail | 15.3¢ | 2.4¢ | — | 14.5 |
| Mississippi | 41% of retail | 14.5¢ | 6.0¢ | $3,500 state support | 14.7 |
| Arkansas | 28% of retail | 14.3¢ | 4.0¢ | — | 14.9 |
| North Carolina | 25% of retail | 15.2¢ | 3.8¢ | — | 14.9 |
| Montana | 100% of retail | 15.0¢ | 15.0¢ | — | 15.0 |
| Oklahoma | 22% of retail | 14.3¢ | 3.2¢ | — | 15.2 |
| Utah | 32% of retail | 13.1¢ | 4.2¢ | $1,600 state support | 15.3 |
| Wyoming | 100% of retail | 14.4¢ | 14.4¢ | — | 15.3 |
| West Virginia | 80% of retail | 15.8¢ | 12.6¢ | — | 15.7 |
| Nebraska | 22% of retail | 13.8¢ | 3.0¢ | $2,000 state support | 15.8 |
| Texas | 50% of retail | 15.9¢ | 7.9¢ | — | 15.8 |
| Kentucky | 52% of retail | 13.8¢ | 7.2¢ | — | 16.0 |
| Georgia | 46% of retail | 16.3¢ | 7.5¢ | — | 16.3 |
| Oregon | 100% of retail | 16.0¢ | 16.0¢ | — | 16.3 |
| Washington | 100% of retail | 14.7¢ | 14.7¢ | — | 18.1 |
| Indiana | 22% of retail | 16.7¢ | 3.7¢ | — | 18.6 |
| Idaho | 28% of retail | 13.7¢ | 3.8¢ | $820 state support | 18.9 |
| South Dakota | 26% of retail | 15.4¢ | 4.0¢ | — | 19.4 |
| Alabama | 24% of retail | 16.4¢ | 3.9¢ | — | 19.7 |
| Louisiana | 18% of retail | 12.7¢ | 2.3¢ | — | 21.6 |
| North Dakota | 19% of retail | 13.4¢ | 2.5¢ | — | 22.2 |
| Tennessee | 17% of retail | 13.7¢ | 2.3¢ | — | 22.5 |
Utility-level programs. Austin Energy pays a 9.91¢ Value of Solar credit and a $2,500 upfront rebate; CPS Energy in San Antonio pays roughly 3¢ and has phased its rebate out. Both are in Texas, which has no statewide net metering at all. Nothing here captures that, because a state average cannot. Where a serving utility differs from the state row, the utility's terms govern.
Rules also change without much notice. and vary by utility inside a state. DSIRE records the terms applying to a specific utility. Payback figures follow the published method · privacy.